[1297] Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum (ed. Reklam), p. 164.
[1298] Ibid., p. 225.
[1299] “This man has a body, and so has this man, and that man, right through society, so that you have a collection of bodies and not one collective body. Society has several bodies at its disposal, but has no body of its own. Just like the parallel notion of a nation, this corporate body is a mere phantom—an idea with no corporeal existence.” (Ibid., p. 135.) To make the possession of a body the test of reality is surely gross materialism. At this rate, law, custom, and language would have to be considered unreal. A historical fact such as a battle or a revolution has no body, but its real consequences are often palpable enough.
[1300] Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum, p. 222.
[1301] Ibid., p. 223.
[1302] Ibid., p. 164.
[1303] In a pamphlet called Les Nouveaux Aspects du Socialisme (Paris, 1908), written by a syndicalist of the name of Berth, syndicalism and anarchism are contrasted, Proudhon’s emphasis upon the reality of society being adopted as the crucial test. Unfortunately, however, Berth confines his examination to Stirner’s system. Had he applied the test to Bakunin or Kropotkin he would have discovered that the emphasis laid by them upon the reality of society constitutes the most original feature in their theory. We are thus driven to the exactly opposite conclusion, and feel bound to admit—M. Berth notwithstanding—that anarchism and syndicalism in many respects closely resemble one another. Jean Grave, however, as we shall see later, seems more favourably inclined towards the naïve individualism of Stirner.
[1304] See Bakunin’s Life, written by his friend James Guillaume, included in the two-volume edition of his works; or the notice of him prefaced by Dragomanov to his volume Michail Bakunin’s sozial-politischer Briefwechsel mit Herzen und Ogareff (Stuttgart, 1895). A fairly full biography—not yet published—has been written by Nettlau, and a copy of the MS. may be seen in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. See also M. Lagardelle’s article on Bakunin in the Revue politique et parlementaire (1909). Bakunin’s works have been published in French in four volumes, the first of which was issued in 1895, and the other three in 1907, 1908, and 1909 respectively (Paris, Stork). Some of his writings, however, are not included among these, e.g. the Statutes of the International Alliance for Social Democracy.
[1305] “I returned from that journey with very definite sociological theories in my mind which I have ever since cherished, and I have done everything I can to give them a more clear and a more concrete expression.” Kropotkin’s principal works are: Paroles d’un Revolté (1884); In Russian and French Prisons (1887); La Conquéte du Pain (1888; Engl. trans. 1906); The State, its Part in History (1898); Fields, Factories, and Workshops (1899); Memoirs of a Revolutionist (1900); Mutual Aid (1902). He has also published a large number of pamphlets, among them L’Anarchie: sa Philosophie, son Idéal (1896). Our quotations are taken from Eltzbacher’s Der Anarchismus, a work that consists almost entirely of quotations from the various anarchist authors, grouped under a few headings. [The references are to the French translation, 1902.—Tr.] These writers, and Kropotkin among them, have readily recognised the impartiality of the work.
[1306] Cf. L’Évolution, la Révolution, et l’Idéal anarchique, by Élisée Reclus (Paris, 1898), and La Société future, by Jean Grave (1895).